Joel Gretsch rushes into the Marmalade Caf . "I am so sorry, but my kids ..
.," he begins, revealing how they anchored him at the ankles to keep him from leaving. "But we're going to the zoo later on," says Gretsch, 43, "so they're excited about that.
" Weekends are family time for the star of , who's shooting the USA series in British Columbia through the summer. He lives not too far from the caf with his daughters -- Kaya, 5, and Willow, 2 -- and wife Melanie, daughter of William Shatner. Gretsch isn't one to complain about working -- or the weekly hassles of airport customs.
But why would he, having landed on one of the hottest series on basic cable. The thriller pits a government agency against 4,400 abductees returned to Earth after decades away. All have acquired supernatural powers, such as healing or mind control.
returns for its fourth season Sunday, with its band of misguided terrorists continuing the widespread distribution of promicin -- the substance that gives the 4,400 their powers. For mortals, promicin offers only a 50-50 chance that they can acquire dramatic abilities, that is, if they even survive the intake. "It's out on the street like crack cocaine," says Gretsch, who plays agent Tom Baldwin, a member of the government's National Threat Assessment Command responsible for monitoring the returnees.
This includes keeping tabs on his nephew, a 4,400 member now in a coma, and his son, whose mind has been altered, as well as searching for his wife, who was abducted in last season's cliffhanger. "I always saw Tom as this meat-and-potatoes kind of guy," Gretsch says, "the kind of guy who (has) got to see it to believe it to a certain degree, and here he is thrown into the most fantastical kind of life. "I love his vulnerability -- that he can be completely wrong, but want to do something so right.
That he's not always the best dad or the best husband. I embrace the screw-up part of Tom -- it's fascinating for me to play those scenes where he's not so put together." But Gretsch almost passed on the part.
"I had just done I got to work with Spielberg! We won Emmys. That was magic," Gretsch recounts.
"So when I got the call from my agent for this, I didn't want to do another sci-fi show. And he said, 'Just read it,'" and Gretsch fell in love with the character drama. A Minnesota native, Gretsch studied at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis before coming to Hollywood in 1990.
He did a lot of theater and television work -- taking odd jobs to make ends meet. But the handsome blond never played big roles, not that they weren't offered. "I would pass on a lot of things that I just felt like I didn't know how to contribute to them," he says.
But in 2000, the avid golfer scored as golf pro Bobby Jones in Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance. Two years later, he appeared opposite Tom Cruise in the Steven Spielberg thriller and with Kevin Kline in before starring in Sci Fi's 10-part miniseries He recently wrapped up production on and is writing a screenplay. With more than an hour gone by, the doting dad is mindful of the date he has to keep.
Of course, the conversation could not end without inquiring about what it's like having a famous father-in-law. "I never had that moment where you have that big epiphany like, 'Oh, my goodness!' I mean, I always knew Bill was famous," says Gretsch, adding, "he's just happy I'm working.
It's always, 'Are you working? Great! Pass the salt and pepper.
'" Joel Gretsch rushes into the Marmalade Caf .
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